There’s possibly an argument that Tim Watson-Munro’s book, A SHRINK IN THE CLINK, should come shrink wrapped.
Subtitled Crazy Tales of Criminal Sin and Jail Psychology, A SHRINK IN THE CLINK is a litany of low life lifers, their times and crimes assessed by a forensic Freudster finking out the felonious fraudster.
There’s an enormous amount of mens rea sprayed about in A SHRINK IN THE CLINK, enough to fill a shrink’s sink. Enough to sink any plea of insanity in regards of the heinous homicides and deplorable paedophilia described in these pages.
Indeed, cases of paedophilia seem to fill these pages, and in most cases are called for what they are – obnoxious oxymorons. These perpetrators don’t love kids, they clearly hate them. They physically torture them and leave them with an eternal legacy of trauma.
In regard to paedophilia, Watson-Munro is rightfully scathing of the Catholic clergy, citing their stance on enforced celibacy creating a naive, inhibited and intimidating culture, ok for monks and contemplatives but not for pastoral carers.
As contemptible their behaviour is, however, no service is done for Munro-Watson to erroneously quote, that is, misquote, Denis Hart, the former Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, in regards the degenerate behaviour.
On the subject of deviant behaviour, Watson-Munro takes us through a pot-pourri of perversions and abundance of aberrations – paraphilia – a nearly inexhaustible litany of deviations and perversions sure to blow the down off a pheasant plucker.
“Panty thieves, chicken rooters, rabbit fuckers, rubber freaks, I’ve met them all.” muses the cell block psycholgist.
Drugs, drug abuse and the frightening rates that they are part of the freight of offenders in so many instances are a major focus and concern of A SHRINK IN THE CLINK, and Watson-Munro has this to say:
“More jails to house drug offenders is foolishly focusing on the symptoms without intelligently addressing the causes. Without a more enlightened, informed approach to what has become a ubiquitous problem in our society, we will continue to lock up sick men and women who in the absence of treatment will resume their addictions and criminal ways to support their unhappy existence. We do so at our peril.”
Watson-Munro’s writing style is avuncular vulgar, peppering his observations with an avid Australian vernacular, some of it strained like some anachronistic strine. I was surprised he doesn’t call females, sheilas. But there is no denying that his anecdotes and opinions forged from forty years at the coal face of incarceration make for furious reading and argument.
A SHRINK IN THE CLINK byTim Watson-Munro is published by Pan Macmillan.